Describing the Seas: Writing Practices of the Masters of the Royal Navy in the Long Eighteenth Century. The masters (that is, navigating officers) of the Royal Navy in the long eighteenth century are usually associated more with practical knowledge and experience than with an involvement with learned or 'book' knowledge. However, their professional practices were based to a high degree on the usage and production of texts. This article examines how literary practices shaped the production of hydrographic knowledge by masters, in how far these practices resembled those of learned culture at the time, and how masters employed them to gain access to the scientific community.